another tax cut. we have seen this before. we know how it ends. 9 million lost jobs. home equity evaporated. retirement accounts up in flames and the great recession of 2008. the american people will not go back. they will not go back. folks, crowd: four more years! you have to ask yourself. both of these guys are decent man. you have to ask about with a push the return of these economic and tax policies from the bush administration?

i have come to one conclusion. the only one i can figure out is about their attitude about america and their attitude about half the american people. you heard his insulting comments that 47% of the american people are -- here's the part that bothers me. when he said they are not willing to take responsibility for the allies. -- for their own lives. these people are our neighbors. he is talking about my parents when they were alive. the people i grew up with. the people here in lynchburg. they include seniors to afford their whole lives to pay for a social security. and did not pay taxes on that. nor should they pay taxes on that. we're talking about the 60,000 warriors risking their lives in afghanistan, pay no income taxes on their salaries.

nor should it. speaking of those warriors, how many of you know someone who was been deployed to afghanistan or iraq over the last two decades? we know you. we owe their families. i checked every single day and this morning again with the defense department, how many have lost? i have been in and out of iraq and afghanistan 20 times. there refer to someone killed in action as a fallen agent. -- fallen angel. there have been 6,502 fallen angels. thousands of them require care for the rest of their lives. understand one thing -- barack and i believe as i believe you do that we only have one sacred obligation as americans -- to equip those we sent to war and care for them and their families when they come home.

the believe as i think you do, the american people are so much better stronger and takes a much more responsibility than these guys give them credit for. i have never seen two candidates for the highest office of the land be more negative about the state of our country, about america's prospects for the future. more negative about the willingness of the american people to take responsibility for their own lives. congressman ryan writes about the culture of dependency. i did not recognize the country they are talking about. that is not the country i live in. i am here to tell you, we are better positioned than any nation in the world to lead the 21st century.

they say we are in decline. 5.2 million new jobs instead of losing $800,000 per month -- 800,00 jobs per month. but the and implement rate -- when the unemployment rate dropped to the lowest since we took office, they did not say implement it was declining, this america is declining. export is up 41%. housing starts were at the highest level since 2008. when they heard that, they said america is in decline. more americans for the first time feeling they're better off and will be better off than any

time in the last five years. what is their answer? america is in decline. romney and ryan are in denial. that is what's wrong. you folks in virginia get it. there is no quit in america. the american people have fought their way back and they are not going back. the entire history of this great nation as only known one direction -- forward. that is the only direction it has known. folks, i got news -- governor romney, congressman ryan, it is never ever been a good bet to bet against the american people. never. virginia, we need you. we win virginia, we win this election. so got there, bring it home. god bless you all and make god protect our troops. thank you. [applause] [captioning performed by

national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] ♪ we take care of our own whereever the flag's flown we take care of our own ♪

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♪ keep on rollin' ♪ ♪

♪ >> on thursday, ann romney campaign for her husband in st. augustine, florida. this is about 15 minutes. [applause] ♪ >> wow. thank you, st. augustine.

i brought some friends with me. this is miles. and parker. this is my other grandson. parker made his own sign. these are some of my grandkids. i am so blessed. it is so wonderful to have them with me. and my gorgeous daughter-in-law mary. she is expecting another grandchild. we are thrilled about that. it is wonderful to have these grandsons. everyone knows i have five sons. i have 18 grandchildren.

what you probably do not know, 13 of them are boys. we are glad we like boys in our family. it makes it a lot easier. boys add such a dimension to my life. they taught me a lot of patience. the other thing that boys taught me, lay it all on the table. and then it is over. it is amazing what you learn from children. i am so thrilled to have had these extraordinary women. are we not lucky to have such strong women? [applause] there is no one on the stage that can appreciate the sentiment better than cindy mccain. i said, sweetheart, i'm never doing this again. he looked at it and he laughed. he said, you say that after every pregnancy.

we women know what is like. gladly, we forget it. it was an interesting decision around the romney family table. the first time it was quite easy. great idea, this will be great, this will be a wonderful experience. ask them again, we do not want to do that again. there is a real truth to that. it is really hard to step forward and it is hard to see someone you love mischaracterized, abused, lied about. why do you step forward? it is because you love this country. [applause]

this was the question i asked mitt. all of the boys were giving me the good arguments about why not to do it again. i know that it is hard. i was telling them, talk to the hand. this was the question i asked him. i know the primary process is difficult. i know the general lection process is difficult. i know it is difficult to defeat an incumbent president. you have to tell me the answer to this. to have gone through this whole process, and if you finally get there, and if you can get there, and you tell me, it is too late, too late to save the country, i need you to answer. is it too late? is it past time to save america? he said it is getting late, but

it is not too late. that is all i need to know, go save america. [applause] we are down to the final days of the campaign. it is exciting out there. the momentum is unbelievable. we feel it from those folks that are here. we love that. you guys give us some much energy, thank you so much. thank you. here we are, looking forward, looking forward to the next -- how many days? who is counting? is it 11? that is better than yesterday. we are very excited.

you can see the momentum is swinging our way. the thing i loved about the debate, an unfiltered view of my husband, yay! [applause] i have been waiting for that for a very long time. hundreds of millions of dollars, half a billion dollars spent on negative ads describing my husband as a person who does not care, a person who is out of touch. i am here to tell you about a person who is in touch and does care. i appreciated the fact that the audience got to see an unfiltered view, 70 million people tuned in the first debate. there is someone else on that stage that i like. he is the guy who has a vision for the future and understands what is going on. this is an economic recovery that is not a recovery at all. guess who is hurting the most --

women. more women have fallen into poverty than men. it is more women have lost their jobs than men in the last four years. women are hurting. single moms, moms having a tough time to begin with, they are the ones who are hurting the most. help is on the way. [applause] to answer that charge that mitt does not care, this is the hardest one for me. i've been married to the man for 43 years. i have known him for 47 years. that does not make me very young, does it? there was a terrific story that was told at the convention.

friends of ours, ted was a firefighter from massachusetts. their son david, 14 years old, that diagnosed with terminal cancer. how hard that was in the family. my husband, father of four at the time, very busy. what does he do? he takes time out of this life to visit a 14-year-old boy. he takes time to know that the parents of that boy know they are not doing this alone. the bonds of friendship that developed when you really go into the dark places in people's lives, because we all know everyone of us has a dark place at some point, we cannot escape this world without having hardship or heartache, he was at that boy's bedside table.

as he got to know him, he found that david liked fireworks. when david was in and out of the hospital, one of those times, mitt brought him a great big box of fireworks. david asks a very tough question. he now recognizing that he is losing this battle. he says, what is next? what is going to happen to me? mitt says david, do not fear. you are going to be fine and you were going to live on after this life. he will have an eternal life. he will have people on the other side who will love you and share issue.

you are going to be just fine, david. your life is going to go on. dave davidson comfort at that time. gave david such comfort at that time. he said, could you please help me write my will? we know that a 14-year-old boy does not have many possessions. they sit down -- what do you care about? what are the things you want to pass on? it was a skateboard and his rifle. he makes sure to write down that the skateboard will go to his friend and his rifle will go to his brother.

the final request, the final request that david makes is -- would you please be the person who gives the eulogy at my funeral? that is the character of the person that we need in the white house. [applause] we never know the decisions that will come across the president's desk. we know they are hard. it is comforting to know that the person who will be sitting in that desk has integrity and decency and goodness. [applause] i will tell you this, he will always make decisions and he will always decide what is best for america, not what is best for him -- what is best for america. we're looking forward to the next 11 days. we're excited about it. i will tell you another story i had a few months back when barbara bush was introducing me.

what a thrill it was for me to know that barbara bush was going to introduce me. i am such a fan of hers. when you meet her in person, she is just the same, outspoken, frank, but absolutely lovable. she was so cute. it was a fund-raiser in houston. she was chastising everyone in the room that had just given money. she was telling them they had not given enough. only barbara bush can get away with that. can you even imagine scolding the president of the united states? she said something interesting, this is the most important election in my lifetime. i thought, wow, she is about 86 years old. she has been the wife of the president and the mother of a president.

and this is the most important election of for a lifetime. wow. it is the most important election of our lifetime. [applause] we all know that is why you are here. he is running because he loves america and he knows we have to get it right this time. we are running out of time. we have to get right this time. we have to do everything we can -- we have to listen to barbara bush. you have to really participate. you have to really work because this is going to make all the difference in the world.

this will change the course of america. here we are. we are ready. i am excited and i will tell you one other thing. i have seen him succeed at everything he does. as a husband, as a father, as a business guy, at the olympics, as a governor. he does not fail. [applause] and he will not fail america. let's make sure we do everything we can get out there and do everything we can to make america prosperous, strong, good again. we're going to win this thing in november.

i am going to close with my favorite saying, god bless you, but especially, god bless america. ♪ ♪ [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [playing "born free"] >> and catherine election day, watch coverage of the presidential candidates.

next all look at the battleground state of north carolina. a debate featuring third-party presidential candidates, including gary johnson, jill stein, and rocky anderson. moderated by larry king on sunday on c-span. >> you make these false attacks. you bring a little depth. i am a clear choice for

governor. i am sorry that you did not even answer my question. >> 15 seconds from a question. make it a question please. you have a minute to reply. >> thank you. i am endorsed by planned parenthood of washington. health joysomen's and contraceptive services. you have been reluctant to state your position on a number of cases. what have you done to safeguard choice to colleges of the services and health care in general? >> good question. you suggest that i have not clearly stated my position. i think i clearly stated a few days ago the last time had a debate when i was asked that

very question. >> follow the key senate and governor's races on c-span, c- span radio, and that c-span.org /campaign2012. >> now several perspectives on the presidential campaign in the battleground state of north carolina. from "washington journal" this is an hour and 20 minutes. host: will be highlighting several key battleground states for 2012. we put north carolina in the spotlight. to help us talk about what is going on in north carolina, we have rob christensen. welcome to the program. tell us a little bit about what makes a north carolina of

battleground state? guest: it has traditionally been a republican state. it has been moving more into a more competitive state. there are several reasons why. it is becoming more of a modern state. voters in each state are asked where they stand in terms of conservative or liberal. north carolina is the 22nd most conservative state. us to the left. it is a pretty conservative state. it also has a lot of political progressives.

it is a modern state traditionally. there has been an influx of people from around different parts of the country. that has had an influence. that has been changing the politics over the years. in addition, it has a significant african-american population. 22% of the electorate is african-american. that is the largest african- american population in and of the battleground states. all those factors have put north carolina into play. host: recently you wrote an item with this headline. for those of you are spent time in a box states are neither states, give us a comparison between north carolina and wisconsin.

guest: people like to group states a geographically. some people like to compare north carolina to south carolina. but actually, north carolina lines of what the wisconsin. it is counter intuitive. look ideologically, that is where north carolina is close to ideologically. gallup asked citizens whether there are a conservative or liberal. that was up reaction than. i made the comparison. paul ryan and a lot of conservatives sent to washington from wisconsin. north carolina has had

conservatives and liberals. both states are very divided. both states are capable of sending vote progressives and conservatives to represent them. we have both urban and rural traditions as well. host: another paper in north carolina. the times news of the burlington has a front-page article this morning. the economy expands at a modest pace. it should have little impact on undecided voters. talk to us about the economy over the last four years in north carolina and what affect it will have in terms of getting out the vote and to people will vote for when they go to the polls. guest: that is why a lot of people presumed they would go for mitt romney in 2012.

obamacare the state in 2008, which was surprising to people, but it was a razor-thin margin. it's been -- it has been a rough at the abuse of the country. north carolina in particular. this state's and employment is up 9.6%. it is one of the highest in the country. -- the unemployment is up 9.6%. this is a very heavy manufacturing economy. we have traditional industries like textiles and furniture. of a lot of those industries were in decline in you and. they're losing their base overseas in foreign countries. the recession was a killer. those jobs have gone and they are gone for good.

this is particularly true for the rural towns of north carolina. manufacturing states have been particularly hit by the recession. in addition, even some of the newer industries in north carolina, such as banking. they have been really hurt by the problems in the banking industry. that is why i. a. -- a lot of people assumed the state would go republican in 2012. it has been a pretty tough four years in north carolina. north carolina has been struck to make any economic growth. host: talk to us about the campaign in terms of what activity you see from various operations across the state and how things might be different in the western part of the state such as ashville. how did they differ from the

concerns of the voters in charlotte and areas in wilmington and around the coast? >>guest: well, the state is quite different. it has always been the most republican area. it is also a very heavy textile area. it has been hit pretty hard. there is a research triangle areas. eastern north carolina is conservative, but has been traditionally democratic. republicans have been making tremendous inroads there in recent years. it is also the most rural area as well. the republicans have tended to campaign most heavily in the western part of the state. mitt romney, for example, has made several appearances in the

state. he has not campaigned in the eastern half of the state at all. he has not made anything eastern half of the state. president obama has made quite a few appearances in the eastern part of the state, but not recently. that is also true of michelle obama and vice president biden. they tend to dampen more in the eastern part of the state. it is in the recent trial were the political strength has been. host: you mention the president has not been in north carolina recently. are people taking notice of that? guest: yes. except for the convention, the president has not really campaign in north carolina since april. we have not really seen the principles year at all. governor romney was here a few

weeks back and made an appearance in ashville. that was mainly to have a visit which is very important signal to send to religious conservatives that it was ok for them to go for a mormon. aside from that, mitt romney has not been there. vice-president joe biden has been here several times. this has been a battleground state, but not in the top bobrun state. clearly we have not seen the major candidates here. we have seen a lot of campaigning. we have seen something like $80 million spent here in campaign ads. we have seen as much advertising

here as much as a other battleground states. not as much as zero i a, but as much as any other state. -- not as much as ohio, but as much as any other state. we have here a tremendous ground operation. the obama campaign has something like 54 offices in here. the republicans from the romney campaign have offices something like 22 offices year. we have a tremendous amount of energy going into the ground operation. there is a tremendous amount of surrey gets coming in almost every day. governors, celebrities, and other people. there has been a tremendous level of intensity in campaigning here. it is not the principles --

host: you mentioned governor romney. you know what the headline bill graham's blessing can't hurt. talk to was a little bit about that in the state of north carolina. i guess because of his age and his family members, and his son, are they taking an active role in the romney campaign? are they giving their blessing to say that for evangelicals and for people of faith in north carolina that it is ok to go ahead and support a mormon? guest: it is very close to an endorsement. you might as well call it an endorsement. he did not say to go vote for mitt romney, but it was very close to it. i did nothing that

underestimates the importance of billy graham's giving his blessing to a candidate. he is a very widely respected figure in north carolina. north carolina is part of the bible belt. i would say that bill lee gramm is the most beloved figure of the state. i do not think that is an exaggeration to say that. there are some people that say that his son is the one that is really driving the train here. graham has been involved in conservative politics. he has been involved in politics are the years. he was very close to president nixon. he backed out of politics because he felt that he got burned after watergate. he was a little disappointed with richard nixon, particularly

when some of the watergate tapes came out. he sort of backed away. you is pretty close to george w. bush -- he was pretty close to george w. bush. he felt that he made a big difference in his life. he helped rescue his life. so, i think he was pretty close to george w. bush as well. but it is not really spoken about a lot in the campaign in terms of literature. there have been some issues out there among evangelicals. there has been some skepticism about governor romney's norman faith. i think -- mormon faith. blessingilly graham's to vote for a mormon has helped

to give that signal. host: rob christensen is with us. you can read more of his writings act news observer.com. we would like to get more input from our viewers and listeners. you need to pick up the phone or send us a message. we have a special line for folks calling from north carolina. there is a. -- there it is. you can also send us e-mail.

we are also on facebook. you can also reach out to us through twitter. you were telling me before we get on the air about what you have been doing or the last couple of days. review for us the last 24 hours of where you have been and what you have seen and what you expect to see in the next 24 hours. guest: there is a tremendous get-out-the-vote effort here in the state. there is a lot of surrogates coming in right now to try to encourage people to vote. yesterday, for example, we had the rev. jesse jackson come in to try to encourage young people, particularly young people on historically black

campuses, to vote. he was at north carolina central university which is and has starkly black school in durham and he was at the university of chapel hill and in another one in greensboro. he was a student body president there and a college quarterback. he got his start as a civil rights leader there. he was talking to students and reminding them of the sacrifices that their parents and grandparents made when the civil rights movements happened. in durham, he led a march of students to register to vote. they have sunday registration -- same day registration here in north carolina and early registration period there is a two-week period where you can actually vote.

there is a two-week window where you can vote. later in the day, we had alicia keys, the singer and songwriter, who had about 1000 people in raleigh at a park edit for atomic late african-american neighborhood and was urging -- at a predominantly african- american neighborhood and was urging people to vote. in a suburb of raleigh, smithfield, in a tobacco warehouse which is a schumann this warehouse, we had about 5000 people show up to here pat mccrory, the republican for governor and chris christie. this is his third trip to the state. he has campaigned so often, he

says he is thinking of moving here. he has campaigned for the republican ticket. host: i'm sure they would miss the governor dearly if he were to leave new jersey and moved to north carolina. let's go to the phones -- our first caller is calling from asheville, n.c., on our line for independences. caller: rob, i'm surprised you did not mention that asheville is a very liberal city and textiles is not our primary industry. i live across the road from billy graham's compound. you did not bring up the fact that he removed mitt romney and mormon is and as a call from his list and has been controversial here. -- as a cult. -- removed mormonism as a cult from his list.

for the last two years, republicans have been in control of north carolina, unfortunately. they get into abortion and voter i.d. which was defeated. going back to asheville, we are a liberal city. i have already voted for obama and i voted for him in 2008 and i think he is the answer for this country, not mid romney. host: talk to us. rob christensen. guest: western north carolina is a fairly conservative area. asheville is a liberal pocket within western north carolina. it is true that the website for the graham association had listed more medicine as a cult until recently, until they had -- listed mormonism as a cult until recently, until they had

kind words for mitt romney and they took that off their website. make about what you will. host: our next call comes from edwin in new bern, n.c., on our line for republicans. caller: i am glad to see you on the air but my thing is -- in this election has been more nuclear polarized and i voted for barack obama the first time but he will not get my vote the second time. he does not have a plan for this country. if we continue to go in the direction we are going, things will not be corrected. rather than attacking the person, he waits until almost the last 10 days to insult our intelligence to have a booklet of all of his plants which are just a rehash plans of the last four years. i was proud to go to the voting

booth early. we had a -- even today, we still have a large turnout of early voters in newburn and i am glad to see a lot of people i have spoken to who were in my shoes last time that voted for barack obama and have changed their mind. host: robb christensen, go ahead. guest: he is giving his opinion but we have had a tremendous turnout of early voting in north carolina. in 2008, 51% of the electorate voted before election day. essentially, obama won the election before election day. john mccain won the election day vote but obama had already

won the election in the early voting period. we have already had 1 million people voted north carolina. -- voters in north carolina. at this point, the democrats are doing better on the early voting, it appears. we don't have a vote count so we don't know exactly what the tally is. if you look at things -- we know things like number of active americans who have voted and that is up from the percentage who voted in 2008. percentage is greater this time at this juncture that was in 2008. the number of younger voters who tend to be more for obama than for running a, a greater

percentage is up this time compared to 2008. those are all good signs for the obama campaign. but, what that will mean at the end, we don't know but the obama campaign had a good signal from that. host: we have a chart from an article in the "atlantic." it talks about absentee ballot request in north carolina. in 2008 and again from 2012. they don't say what the date is. the absentee ballot request was -- in 2012 there was a request for

democrats. for for republicans, over 96,000. it has changed. host: the democrats made a gain of about 9000. in your observations, do you see more democrats look again for absentee ballots in 2012 over 2008? might this make a difference for the obama campaign? guest: i think the key is in the early voting. at this point, the democrats seem to be having an edge in the early voting.

you can look at the demographic numbers. there are some reasons why that might be the case. the obama campaign never actually shut down their operation from the 2008 campaign. they have a much larger staff and a much larger organization and did they have essentially been staffed up and going full steam for the last year. the republicans in 2008, they were caught unaware because they did not how to put north carolina in play. they thought it was a republican state. they vowed that the event -- would have a much better get out the vote organization and

they do. even so, they are still playing catch-up because they had to go through the whole primary season to pick a. they were late -- a. nominee. it was only this spring where they put together their organization in north carolina so they were already seven or eight months behind the democrats when they started organizing here in north carolina. i think the democrats have a strong organizational edge. i don't know what that means but it could mean a couple of things -- if the elction is really close. host: go ahead.

finish your thought. guest: i think the conventional wisdom is that the state least slightly toward mid run it. -- mitt romney. that is possibly right. we have had three polls this week, three separate polls, that have shown the state is still very close. that has to be considered a tossup. host: our next call is from durham, n.c., on our independent line. caller: good morning, gentlemen. i think our state remains fairly close. i think it will be a lot about voter turnout. my question is about the impact health care will have a north carolina. i work in a hospital and i have seen sweeping improvements to

and quality of care related to health reform. i feel it is not addressed in a lot of the riding that is coming out. what do you think of the health care will have? guest: well, you know i was at a rally last night and republican candidate got up there and said if he's elected he will do everything he can to repeal obama care. so it's still a very popular issue for republicans. and the polling in north carolina still suggests that the president -- that obama care is still not very popular in north carolina although you start taking pieces of that

like preexisting conditions and that sort of thing, it becomes various parts of it are more popular with the public. it's been a tough sell in north carolina. i think it's one of the reasons for example in 2010 that the state legislature went republican. it's one of the reasons that democratic congressmen lost his congressional seat here in north carolina. so it's been a tough issue for democrats. i don't think there's any question about that and a good issue for republicans. host: rob christensen talking to us from north carolina. you can read some of his writings at news observer.com. host: what are you going to be watching for on election night in north carolina?

guest: the national presidential race is why people are looking at north carolina. but in the state we have -- it's been a battleground -- we have several battlegrounds going on. we have a governor's race going on. north carolina has had 20 years of democratic governors. it's the longest run of democratic governors east of the mississippi river. that could come to an end. the current incumbent governor decided to not seek reelection and the democratic nominee is in the polls is in deep trouble and it looks like that former charlotte mayor who lost in 2008 is has maintained a double digit lead the entire year and

looks to be in good shape to be the first republican governor since jim martin was elected in 1980. so it is shaping up as a very good republican year in the state. host: you've also got quite a contest going on in north carolina's 11th district. tell us about that. guest: we had -- let me jump back a little bit. in 2010 we had the first republican legislature since 1800's. and it came just as redistricting happened. it meant that you had new lines drawn for congressional districts. and so the -- with these new lines right now we have an 8/7 breakdown, 8 democrats, 7 republicans, i think that's right.

no it's 7/6. but the republicans think they can pick up four seats because of the new district lines. if so that would be the biggest pick up of any state in the country. it seems there are certain to pick up two seats based on unfavorable new districts. democratic congressmen decided not to seek reelection brad miller in the 13th and in the 11th. and larry kissell in the 8th district in charlotte area and that goes down to the south carolina border is in a really tough reelection fight. and then really the race that really is getting all the attention and that is really

the cliff hanger here is in the seventh district where conservative democrat mike mcintire is facing a difficult fight against david rouser who is a state senator. and that's one of the most expensive congressional races in the country. and a lot of national money is flowing into that. that is in the southeast part of the state from raleigh down to the southeastern part of the state. mcintire is trying to hold on in a district that is much more republican. and that's the district that everyone is looking for. but we could see a district -- we could see the state's delegation go from 7-6 democratic majority to a 10-3 republican majority over night. host: rob christensen, we're

going to go back to the phones. go ahead. caller: how you doing? my question is how can you guess that mitt romney is winning in north carolina when mitt romney paid his horse $71 ,000$71,000 but he wants people in north carolina to work for $21,000 dollar and if you combine the two it's still not as much as his horse makes? host: any feelings about the governor and the businesses that bain was involved in in north carolina?

host: governor romney's taxes, is that a big issue there? guest: governor romney released

his taxes but what is more of an issue is that we want to be sure that to the callers point that mitt romney does not dig into the taxes of the middle class. amend i think that's definitely more of a concern overall for us and that is the middle class does not have to carry the burden from the upper class. so for people making over $200,000 that their tax structure is in line with what they have. so i think that that's a major concern and that is that we grow the middle class and we grow from the middle class out and therefore create a stronger country. host: ron is calling from charlotte on our line for independence. go ahead. caller: i'm here in charlotte and we are an agency that distribute stimulus cards.

have you heard of the static stimulus cards? guest: i have not. caller: great. i've heard of you but if you could we'd like to you spread it throughout the community. we take individuals who are on cash benefits and we run them through our interactive database and give cash backs and could coupons and we enhance those individual by 20% each month. so it's not democratic or republican system, it's just a universal tool that we use to enhance people and we would like your support with this system. and if you'd like -- host: sounds like a sales pitch. let's move to kathleen.

caller: thank you this is kathleen and i'm an 81-year-old widow and i have kept up with politics all my life. but this campaign that's gone on between romney and the president is the most ridiculous thing i've ever seen. but i did not vote for romney the first time and i had my reasons and i'm not voting for him this time either. because i don't think he's done what he said he was going to do. i parade for him every night hoping that one day he would do something right. host: you said you didn't vote for romney the first time, you mean president obama? caller: i meant obama host: you voted for mccain? caller: yes i did. host: what makes you want to

vote for romney? caller: i have never been a taker i've been a giver. the people can give what they want without the president. they have a survey about the cell phones and people think they're getting them free but the people who pay taxes are paying their bills and they don't even know that. host: your thoughts on that. guest: i would say that obviously i support the president and i think that the president's stand on the tax structure as well as healthcare are definitely something that we can stand behind for really the majority of the middle class.

host: what about she said that she was a life long democrat and couldn't support the president. how do you work with folks like her who have been members of the democratic parties all their life but can't pull the lever for the president? guest: well, what i hope is that somehow at some point we can reach out to her and persuade her and persuade people like her. i do believe that our ground game here in mecklenburg county our person to person contact is making the difference for the majority of democrats. and i think for the majority we will see they have supported the president yet again when the polls close in november. host: a caller from new york on our line for democrats. go ahead. caller: i simply have a question as a political

operative perhaps you have an explanation. i understand how calling is important internally for politicians but what i don't understand is how does that help the voter? how does the polling, the constant polling changes up and down, wouldn't it be better not to have the polling and let the electorate decide on the day of the election? guest: i would say as far as the polling that i watch, i watch public policy polling, i think they do a good job for us in north carolina. and i would say what i said again, the only poll that is matter are the early voting locations. so that's where the people should be and will be heard.

the rest of those polls can give us an indicator of which way people might be going. and i think that polling is also important if it helps us to understand where the voters are and what their needs and concerns are. but mostly the only polling that does matter is the polling that takes place when people pull the lever. so we feel very confident here and for the rest of our colleagues in the swing states. we know their doing their job and talking to voters about issues that are important. host: our last call comes from florida on our line for democrats. caller: good morning. i'm on my way to vote and i'm i'm on my way to vote and i'm voting for obama.